page_title: Yoruba people
section_title: Mythology
hierarchical_section_title: Yoruba people / Society and culture / Religion and mythology / Traditional Yoruba religion / Mythology
caption_attribution_description: Yoruba. Beaded Crown (Ade) of Onijagbo Obasoro Alowolodu, Ogoga of Ikere 1890-1928, late 19th century. Fiber, beads, cloth, basketry, 37 3/4 x 9 1/2 in. (95.9 x 24.1 cm). Brooklyn Museum, Caroline A.L. Pratt Fund, Frederick Loeser Fund, and the Carll H. de Silver Fund, 70.109.1a-b.
context_page_description: The Yoruba people are an ethnic group that inhabits western Africa, mainly Nigeria, Benin, Togo and part of Ghana. The Yoruba constitute around 57–60 million people worldwide. The vast majority of this population is from Nigeria, where the Yoruba make up 21% of the country's population making them one of the largest ethnic groups in Africa. Most Yoruba people speak the Yoruba language, which is the Niger-Congo language with the largest number of native speakers.
  The Yoruba share borders with the very closely related Itsekiri to the south-east in the North West Niger delta, Bariba to the north in Benin and Nigeria, the Nupe also to the north and the Ebira to the northeast in central Nigeria. To the east are the Edo, Ẹsan and the Afemai groups in mid-western Nigeria. Adjacent to the Ebira and Edo groups are the related Igala people found in the northeast, on the left bank of the Niger River. To the southwest are the Gbe speaking Mahi, Gun, Fon and Ewe who border Yoruba communities in Benin and Togo. Significant Yoruba populations in other West African countries can be found in Ghana, Benin, Ivory Coast, and Sierra Leone.
context_section_description: Oral history of the Oyo-Yoruba recounts Odùduwà to be the progenitor of the Yoruba and the reigning ancestor of their crowned kings.
  He came from the east, sometimes understood from Ife traditions to be Oke-Ora and by other sources as the "vicinity" true East on the Cardinal points, but more likely signifying the region of Ekiti and Okun sub-communities in northeastern Yorubaland in central Nigeria. Ekiti is near the confluence of the Niger and Benue rivers, and is where the Yoruba language is presumed to have separated from related ethno-linguistic groups like Igala, Igbo, and Edo.
  After the death of Oduduwa, there was a dispersal of his children from Ife to found other kingdoms. Each child made his or her mark in the subsequent urbanization and consolidation of the Yoruba confederacy of kingdoms, with each kingdom tracing its origin due to them to Ile-Ife.
  After the dispersal, the aborigines became difficult, and constituted a serious threat to the survival of Ife. Thought to be survivors of the old occupants of the land before the arrival of Oduduwa, these people now turned themselves into marauders. They would come to town in costumes made of raffia with terrible and fearsome appearances, and burn down houses and loot the markets. Then came Moremi on the scene; she was said to have played a significant role in the quelling of the marauders advancements. But this was at a great price; having to give up her only son Oluorogbo. The reward for her patriotism and selflessness was not to be reaped in one lifetime as she later passed on and was thereafter deified. The Edi festival celebrates this feat amongst her Yoruba descendants.
caption: Beaded crown (Adé) of a Yoruba Oba, the Ogoga of Ikere, Ekiti State. According to Yoruba customs, only kings who are direct descendants of Oduduwa can wear a beaded crown.
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